Olympics: a blockbuster for NBC

See the "best of the day" photo collection from the Winter Olympics here. For full coverage of the Olympics go here.

Hal BoedekerStaff writer

UPDATED: The NFL has been the biggest event on television so far this season. But the Winter Olympics are going to be a bonanza for NBC, based on the first two days.

The Opening Ceremony at Sochi averaged 31.7 million. On Thursday, the Olympics delivered 20 million viewers to NBC in prime time.

The other networks mostly offered reruns Friday to stay out of the way. The prime-time averages for NBC's competition: CBS with 5.7 million, ABC with 4.7 million, Fox with 2.4 million and The CW with 830,000. The most-seen show on another network was CBS' "Blue Bloods" with 6.9 million viewers.

Sochi was the most-watched Opening Ceremony for a non-live Winter Games since the Lillehammer Games in 1994, when 33.8 million watched.

Friday's ratings were highest in Minneapolis; Orlando was the No. 20 in that count. In Central Florida, the Opening Ceremony averaged 439,000 viewers. Sochi posted a small increase over the Opening Ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver four years ago, when 436,400 viewers watched.

The strongest competition was on ABC: "20/20" attracted 120,100 viewers, and "Shark Tank" hooked 105,800. Rounding out the top five were two CBS series: "Blue Bloods" with 86,100 and "Undercover Boss" with 75,800. The Olympics was tops with the 18-to-49 age group by a wide margin; "20/20" was second there, and "Shark Tank" was third.

In national ratings for late night, NBC received more good news. The final "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" scored its biggest audience ever: 6.6 million viewers. Fallon's previous best was 6.1 million after the Super Bowl in 2012.

When David Letterman departed "Late Night" in 1993, he drew 7.5 million viewers.